The final print for the free Mother’s Day gift I made!
Please do take a moment to look back at my previous blog post which explains my thinking behind the ‘P l a c e Portrait’ idea.
The print above was the one unanimously chosen by the lady and her siblings who won the free print! As a local lady she was able to drop off a range of gathered flowers and stems that she knows her mum likes. In particular, the cow parsley was really great as it’s quite structural and tough!
I set to preparing the stems before printing. I often use quite a heavyweight printmaking paper called Fabriano Rosaspina 285 gsm, it is probably my favourite.
Some of the images below illustrate how I made the print. I use caligo safewash inks which are really nice to use, very strong, rich colour; yet washable……..they are magic inks to me. Prussian blue always gets used very quickly.
Such a poignant message encapsulated within this image too……
I made a number of prints through the etching press so one could be picked out. As you can see, the cow parsley printed really sensitively and the stems have this linear quality that is really lovely.
Preparing the caligo inks…
I soak the paper for some time to really soften the fibres, this helps to capture the embossed qualities within the print. I used some laser cut pieces of plywood to add more of an abstract embossed element against the natural forms. Some other prints with similar shapes are available in my online shop.
The backing paper always reveals hidden delights!
So, the print has dried out now, underneath a bit of weight and it has been carefully packaged in an archival sleeve and the lady picked it up last week, ready to send on to her mum. It was lovely to do and I hope that her mum enjoys the print. It would be great to see this initiative get off the ground…….maybe if any of you get married anytime soon……come back to me once your flowers are past their best!
I use recyclable packaging wherever possible and paper tapes and labels…
